PART V - INTERPRETIVE RULES
Part V - Interpretive Rules
Principles of interpretation The following principles of interpretation apply to the Rules:
(a) references to parties are to the Association and Nodes, and not to any third parties;
(b) references to a person will include a natural person, corporate, or unincorporated body (whether or not such body has a separate legal personality);
(c) references to a company will include any company, corporation, or other body corporate, wherever and however incorporated or established;
(d) a reference to any of a Node’s obligations under the Rules will include an obligation not to procure, permit, or suffer that thing to be done;
(e) a reference to writing or written excludes fax but includes being recorded by any means and, includes email and messages in any human-readable format or representing words in any visible form sent through the Network;
(f) a reference to signing includes an electronic signature, but only where signed through a secure operating system or platform which, in the Association’s reasonable opinion: (i) allows the signature to be uniquely linked to the signatory and capable of identifying them; and (ii) provides a link to the signed data in such a way that any subsequent change in the data is detectable;
(g) any reference to a legal term for any action, remedy, method of judicial proceeding, legal document, legal status, court, official, or any legal concept or thing will, in respect of any jurisdiction other than England and Wales, be deemed to include a reference to that which most nearly approximates to the legal term in that jurisdiction which is equivalent to that in England and Wales;
(h) unless the context otherwise requires, words in the singular will include the plural, and words in the plural will include the singular;
(i) unless the context otherwise requires, the words ‘or’ and ‘and’ will be interpreted such that ‘A or B’ means ‘A or B or both,’ ‘either A or B’ means ‘A or B, but not both,’ and ‘A and B’ means ‘both A and B’; and
(j) any words following the terms including, include, in particular, for example, or any similar expression will be interpreted as illustrative and will not limit the sense of the words preceding those terms.
Glossary
The following definitions apply to the Rules:
Term
Definition
Affiliate:
any entity that directly or indirectly Controls, is Controlled by, or is under common Control with, another entity;
Applicable Laws:
in respect of any Node:
(a) any laws, legislation, regulation, by-law, or subordinate legislation;
(b) any rule or principle of the common law or equity;
(c) any binding order, judgment, or decree of any court, or arbitrator or tribunal, having jurisdiction or contractual authority over that Node or the Association (as applicable) or any of that Node’s or the Association’s assets, resources, or business (as applicable); or
(e) any direction, policy, decision, rule, or order that is binding on that Node or the Association and that is made or given by any governmental, regulatory, or supervisory authority;
in each case as amended, extended, or re-enacted and which:
(i) has the force of law in any part of the world where that Node or the Association (as the case may be) is located or does business or conducts any Relevant Activity; and
(ii) are binding on that Node or the Association (as applicable) or either of that Node’s or the Association’s assets (as applicable) in any part of the world;
Association and we, our, or us:
each has the meaning set out in recital A of the Background to the Rules;
Bitcoin Protocol:
the protocol implementation of the Bitcoin White Paper as set out at: https://protocol.bsvblockchain.org/;
Bitcoin White Paper:
has the meaning set out in recital A of the Background to the Rules;
Bitcoin, Bitcoin SV, or BSV:
has the meaning set out in recital A of the Background to the Rules;
Block Reward:
has the meaning set out in clause I.3.2 of the Rules;
Block Subsidy:
has the meaning set out in clause I.3.2 of the Rules;
Business Day:
a day other than a Saturday, Sunday, or public holiday in England or Switzerland;
Change Notice:
has the meaning set out in clause II.5.2 of the Rules;
Control:
the beneficial ownership of more than 50% of the issued share capital of a company or the legal or de-facto power to direct or cause the direction of the affairs of a company or entity, and ‘Controls’ and ‘Controlled’ will be interpreted accordingly;
Data Protection Laws:
(a) any laws, legislation, regulation, by-law, or subordinate legislation;
(b) any binding order, judgment or decree of any court or arbitrator or tribunal having jurisdiction or contractual authority any party’s assets, resources, or business (as applicable); or
(c) any direction, policy, decision, rule, or order that is binding on any party and that is made or given by any governmental, regulatory, or supervisory authority;
in each case which relates to the processing of Personal Data and as amended, extended or re-enacted, including the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003 (as amended by SI 2011 no. 6), the Data Protection Act 2018 and Regulation 2016/679 of 27 April 2016 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data as each is amended in accordance with the Data Protection, Privacy and Electronic Communications (Amendments etc) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (as amended by SI 2020 no. 1586) and incorporated into UK law under the UK European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 and which:
(i) has the force of law in any part of the world where any party (as the case may be) is located or does business or conduct any Relevant Activity; and
(ii) is binding on any party (as applicable) or any party’s assets (as applicable) in any part of the world;
Decision:
any order, judgment, decree, direction, or requirement of any kind issued by a court or a competent tribunal, including any tribunal of arbitration or adjudication;
Direct Decision:
has the meaning set out in clause III.4.2 of the Rules;
Direct Decision Event:
has the meaning set out in clause III.4.1 of the Rules;
Directive:
has the meaning set out in clause III.1.1 of the Rules;
Directive Event:
has the meaning set out in clause III.1.2 of the Rules;
Enforcement Event:
has the meaning set out in clause III.3.1 of the Rules;
Indirect Decision:
has the meaning set out in clause III.5.2 of the Rules;
Indirect Decision Event:
has the meaning set out in clause III.5.1 of the Rules;
Intellectual Property Rights:
patents, utility models, rights to inventions, copyright, and neighbouring and related rights, moral rights, trademarks, and service marks, business names, and domain names, rights in get-up and trade dress, goodwill, and the right to sue for passing off or unfair competition, rights in designs, rights in computer software, database rights, rights to use, and protect the confidentiality of, confidential information (including know-how and trade secrets), and all other intellectual property rights, in each case whether registered or unregistered and including all applications and rights to apply for, and be granted, renewals, or extensions of, and rights to claim priority from, such rights, and all similar or equivalent rights or forms of protection which subsist or will subsist now or in the future in any part of the world;
Malicious Code:
code, files, scripts, agents, or programmes intended to do harm to the Network, the Association, other Nodes, or third parties (or made with reckless indifference as to whether they may cause such harm), and whether effected by means of automatic devices, scripts, algorithms, or any similar manual processes;
Message:
has the meaning set out in clause I.5.2(d) of the Rules;
Network:
(a) the Bitcoin blockchain (and any test blockchains) containing block height #556767 with the hash
‘000000000000000001d956714215d96ffc00e0afda4cd0a96c96f8d802b1662b’ and that contains the longest persistent chain of blocks which are valid under the Rules; or
(b) all relevant communication channels between peers;
Network Activities:
has the meaning set out in recital D of the Background to the Rules;
Network Database:
the distributed ledger relating to the Network;
Node:
has the meaning set out in recital D of the Background to the Rules, but does not include the Association;
Node Software:
any software made available in the Repository on the Repository or elsewhere under the Node Software Licence, any prior version of that software, and any software derived from the same;
Node Software Licence:
has the meaning set out in recital G of the Background to the Rules;
Personal Data:
has the meaning given to it under Data Protection Laws;
Purpose:
has the meaning set out in clause III.6.3 of the Rules;
Relevant Activity:
has the meaning set out in clause I.2.2 of the Rules;
Repository:
the Association’s Github repository made available at https://github.com/bitcoin-sv/bitcoin-sv/, or such other code repository as the Association may specify for the purposes of the Rules;
Rules:
has the meaning set out in clause I.1 of the Rules, as varied from time to time in accordance with clause II.5 of the Rules;
Sanctions Authority:
Switzerland, the United Nations, the European Union (or any of its member states), the United Kingdom, and in each case their respective sanctions, governmental, judicial, or regulatory institutions, agencies, departments, and authorities, including the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, the Swiss Federal Council, the United Nations Security Council, His Majesty’s Treasury, the United Kingdom’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, and the United Kingdom’s Department of International Trade;
Sanctions List:
any of the lists issued or maintained by a Sanctions Authority designating or identifying persons that are subject to Sanctions, in each case as from time to time amended, supplemented, or substituted;
Sanctions Restricted Person:
a natural person or legal entity that is: (a) listed on any Sanctions List; (b) resident, domiciled, or located in, or incorporated, or organised under the laws of, a country or territory that is the target of any Sanctions; (c) a government of any country or territory that is the target of any Sanctions, or an agency or instrumentality of such a government; (d) otherwise identified by a Sanctions Authority as being subject to Sanctions; or (e) is at least 50% owned (whether legally or beneficially) and/or Controlled by any person or entity which falls into the foregoing categories or is acting or purporting to act on behalf of any such person or entity;
Sanctions:
any economic, financial, or trade sanctions laws, regulations, embargoes, or restrictive measures administered, enacted, or enforced by any Sanctions Authority, including any such law or regulation enacted, promulgated, or issued by any Sanctions Authority after the date of the Rules and including any enabling legislation, executive order, or regulation promulgated under or based under the authorities of any of the foregoing by any Sanctions Authority;
Step:
has the meaning set out in clause III.6.2 of the Rules;
Suspended Node:
has the meaning set out in clause I.9 of the Rules;
Swiss Rules:
has the meaning set out in clause IV.1.1 of the Rules;
Unilateral Contract:
has the meaning set out in recital B of the Background to the Rules;
Website:
the Association’s website at bsvblockchain.org/network-access-rules or such other website or online portal as the Association may specify for the purposes of the Rules.
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